Potato-masher.



E. I". SMITH.

POTATO MASHER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. I3, I9l4.

1,148,547. Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

'f l/f"` IIMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIII. 4 29 I5 4 45 47 I; 12N.;

H IIIIIIIIII Mmm Q3 E. F. SMITH.

POTATO MASHER.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. I3. 1914.

1,148,541 Patented Aug. 3, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANDGRA. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII c,

'NHED STATES. PATENT FFQ.

EDWARD r. SMITH, or nocnnsfrnit, new Yonai, Assienoa ro JosiAH A Nsricn, oF ROCHESTER, NEW Yoan.

roTATo-MASHER.

Application filed November 13, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD F. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Potato- Mashers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing. l

My invention relates to improvements in potato mashers.

The object of my invention is to provide a potato masher more especially designed for mashing large quantitiesof potatoes and in which the potatoes are more evenly mashed and will not be discharged from the masher in lumps as is the case with many of the mashers now on the market.

Another object of my invention is to provide a masher of this character in which' the grating and forcing blades and other parts can be readily removed for cleaning and in which the bearing of the rotary shaft carrying the masher will not be clogged with the mashed potatoes. v

A stillv further object of my invention vis to provide a simple, cheap and effectivey masher of this character having certain de' tails of structure and operation hereinafter more fully set forth. v v

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 represents a side elevation partly in section of my improved potato masher; Fig. 2 represents a horizontal sectional View talrenon the line 2*-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation partly in section of the gratingI and forcing blades. Fig. 4 is a horizontal transverse sectional `view of the removable sleeve bearing taken on the line 4 4 Vof Fig.

1. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the grat! ing and forcing blades partly broken away. npotato mashers heretofore used, it has been necessary to use a follower to forcethel potatoes to the mashing blades and in this case the potatoes are often forced .through the perforated plate at the lower' end ofthe' masher in lumps, and it is the main object of this invention to dispense with the follower and at the same time cause the potatoes to be forced through the perforated plate' in a perfectly mashed condition and thus obviate the lumps that are usually found in mashed potatoes;

Referring now to the drawings, 1 represents the base of my improved potato masher,

Specification of Letters Patent.

raten/tea aug. s, 1ers.

Serial No. 871,855.

which is provided with a central opening 2, and on the outside of the said opening the base is provided with the recessed portions 3, forming the recesses 4, in which fit the outwardly extending lugs 5, of the receptacle 6. This receptacle is formed of a base plate 7 having the cylindrical side walls 8, secured to the upwardly extending flange 9, by means of the screws 10; The perforated plate 11 is secured upon the flange 12 of the cylin* drical body-portion 8, as clearly shown in Figi Qrof the drawings. The upper end of the cylindrical body-portion is open and in which is removably supported the hopper 13, which hasl its rear wall flattened, as indicated at 14, so as not to interfere with the standard, as will be more fully Vdescribed hereinafter.

The base 1, at one side, is providedvwith an 'enlarged portion 15, upon which is bolted by means of bolts 16 the upwardly extending standard 17. The upper end of the standard 17 is provided with a, yoke-portion 18 having the bearings 19 and 20, in which isrotatably mounted the shaft 21. l The shaft 21 on the 4outside of' the bearing 20 has a collar 22, locked thereon by means of the setscrews 23, and secured upon the shaft beyond the collar' E22 is the handle 24. This handle is Alocked upon the shaft 21 by means of the setscrews 25. By this arrangement of the collar 22, it will be seen that the handle isbrought out beyond avertical aline- Inent of the standard 17 so that the handle can vbe readily rotated. The handle 24 is provided with the usual hand gripping portion 26, which is adapted to rotate upon the bolt'` upon which it is mounted, as is fully understoodk and needs no further description. The standard 17 below isy provided with an inwardly extending portion 27, which is in a horizontal alinement with the lower end of the yoke 1,8 and is provided at its inner end with a vertically disposed elongated bear ing holder 28. Loosely mounted in the bearing holder 28 is al removable sleeve bearing 29, which is locked in' the bearing holder 2 8 by means of a` thumb screw 30, as is clearly shown in Fig.' 1 of the drawings. The sleeve bearing is provided with an annular flange 29, which rests upon the upper end of the bearing holder 28 and whereby the bearing is supported so that the scraping and forcing blades carried by the lower lend are slightly above the plate 11. Passingl V32, adjustably fixed tothe shaft so that when the removable sleeve bearing 29V is released by the thumb-screw 30,the said sleeve bearing cannot move downwardly upon the shaft 21, but will b e moved with the shaft.

The outer end of the horizontally arranged shaft 21 on the outside of the yoke 18, has rigidly secured thereto the beveled gear 33, which meshes with the beveled pinion 34, locked upon the shaft 31 by means of the set-screw 35. The upper end of the shaft 31, above the beveled pinion 34, is provided with a reduced portion 36, upon which is secured the handle 37 by the set-screw 38. The lower end of the shaft, as will be hereinafter more fully described, carries the grating and forcing blades and when it is desired to remove the blades for cleaning purposes, the thumb-screw 30 is released, which releases the sleeve bearing 29, and when the said shaft isl raised vertically, the collar 32 carries the' bearing vertically through the v bearing holder 28 and, therefore, at all times keeps the sleeve .bearing 29 from being clogged with any of the mashed potatoes, as

will be readily seen. |The upward movement of the shaft 31 disengages the pinion 34 from the beveled gear 33 and the sleeve bearing 29 .being held in between the beveled pinion 34 and the collar 32, it will be seen that when the sleevebearing 29 is locked byV the setscrew'30, the pinion 34 meshes with the gear 33 and cannot have any vertical movement in respect thereto.v

The lower end of the shaft 31 has a reduced portion 39, which enters an opening 40 in the solid central portion 41 of the grating and forcing blades. The solid central portion 41 has four outwardly grating arms 42, 48, 44 and 45, whichvare preferably curved and have their outer ends extending close to the cylindrical receptacle 8, as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. These grating and forcing arms have their lower edges 46 horizontally arranged and adapted to revolve close to the upper face ofV the 'perforated plate 11.` These arms have inclined faces 47, terminating at their upper ends with the-teeth 48, which will be presently more fully described. The central solid portion 41 ofthe. grating and forcing blades is provided .with a hooked member 49, under which the pin 50 passes and whereby the grating blades are locked tothe shaft 31 andvsupported thereby so that they will turn' with the lshaft in onedirection. `By reversing the direction of the rotation o'f'th'e shaft 31, the pin 50 is brought from under the member 49 and the vshaft may be uncoupled from 4the forcing-and grating arms.Y The shaft 31 can be adjusted vertically within Vthe sleeve bearing 29 by adjusting the collar .32, the pinion 34 and the handle 37, sothat the scraping and forcing blades may be the desired distance from the perforated plate. The teeth 48 are arranged at an angle to the arms 45, so that none of the teeth is cutting into the surface presented to it, but the whole surface which lies on top of the teeth is all being scraped. In operation it will be seen that the potatoes are placed in the hopper and dropped within the cylindrical body-portion. The shaft 31 is rotated through the medium of the handlek and the gears, heretofore described, which causes the grating and forcing arms to rotate within the cylindrical body-portion above the perforated plate ,11. The rotation of these arms causes the teeth 48 to scrape the potatoes as they f all by gravity downwardly within the receptacle 8, and suchrrscraped portion of thepotatoes travels downwardly by the inclined faces 47 of the blades and are forced through vthe perforated plate 11. The fiat face 46 of theblades absolutely forces all of the potatoes upon the plate through the perforated plate.- By this structure it will be seen thatthere is no necessity for a follower, as the teeth 48 on the blades are constantly scraping the potatoes as they fall by gravity and thoroughly disintegrate thepotatoes before they areV received by the inclined-faces 47 of the blades. 95 It will be seen that the hopper 13 can be readily removed and the shaft 31 moved verf tically and the grating'and forcing ,blades removed from the shaft and the receptacle for cleaning. The receptacle can be readily V100 removed from the base 1, as heretofore described, and whereby all the parts coming in contact with the potatoes can be readily cleaned.V Y v I desire it to be understood that variations 105 may be made in certain details of the construction, among which variations is providing additional arms with or without teeth or serrations, and the omission of teeth or serrations in one or more, or all of the said 11o tating slightly aboveY the perforated bottom,

andv grating teeth carried by the upper edge Vofthe blades. Y

2. A masher of the character described comprising a receptacle having a perforated bottom and radiallyA arranged 'rotating com-4 binedfgrating and downwardly forcing Y blades within the receptacle slightly above Y l the perforated bottom, and ygrating teeth carried by the upper edge of theblades. 130

3. A masher of the character described comprising a receptacle, a perforated bottom Within the receptacle, radially arranged combined grating and downwardly forcing blades within the receptacle above the perforated bottom, gra-ting teeth carried by the upper edge of the said blades, and means for rotating said blades.

4c. A masher of the character described comprising a receptacle, a perforated bottorn within the receptacle, combined grating and downwardly forcing blades within the receptacle slightly above the perforated bottom, grating teeth carried by the upper edges of the blades, a shaft removably secured to said blades, and means for rotating said shaft.

5. A masher of the character described, comprising a receptacle having a perforated bottom, a rotary member within the receptacle and having outwardly extending blades having inclined downwardly forcing faces terminating at their upper ends in grating teeth, substantially as shown and described.

6. A masher of the character described, comprising a receptacle, a perforated bottom carried by the receptacle, a masher comprising a central body-portion having radially extending blades having their lower edges iat and above the perforated plate and having inclined faces terminating at their upper ,edges in grater teeth.

7 A masher of the character described, comprising a receptacle, a perforated bottom within the receptacle, a rotary member within the receptacle and having radially arranged blades having inclined faces, said blades having teeth on their upper edges arranged at an angle to the blades.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD F. SMITH.

Witnesses:

CHAs. LITTLE, JAMES M. KowN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

